The Paladin's best friend

[Goldmoon]

Before my most recient Paladin died my group and I were at odds over the Paladins mount. It was a standard heavy warhorse and nothing fancy but most of the group thought that a Paladins Special mount is unbalancing because its too powerful. I see a lot of Paladin players who dont really use their mounts and even some who dont have one at all. Personally, I would never play a Paladin without its mount much like I would never play a Fighter without using all its feats. Its a part of the class and in my opinion the strongest part if played correctly.

Anyone else have an opinion on the Paladin's best friend?

 

[azhrei_fje]

The special mount is a class feature, just like an animal companion or familiar. There are advantages for having one, so why not take them? Otherwise, you're not playing the class in the balanced manner that it was meant to be played.

My players have a paladin with a hippogriff mount. Very cool. It can't carry all that much when flying because the paladin weighs about 220# with gear, but often the paladin will take the recent loot (in a bag of holding) to a nearby town to sell/trade/buy other stuff. It takes the paladin a quarter of the time it would take over land.

Of course, the most recent trip had a random encounter occur that cost the paladin and the cleric some of their magic, but the 3D aerial combat was way cool.

 

[Vorput]

It is a strong ability, if played correctly... I hesitate to call it unbalancing though...

I've never seen a mount turn the tide of a battle, I've rarely seen a mount take up the spotlight for more than two rounds.

I've seen the Paladin ON the mount do really cool things... but... Any fighter with the mounted combat feats could do the same thing. Granted the paladin's horsey is more powerful than a typical horse, but then so is a familiar and animal companion.

Plus Wizards had a feat on it's website that would allow you to bond with an animal and get some of the bonuses a paladin does... perfectly acceptable all things considered.

I did once play a female paladin, Lilly- who had a unicorn mount, Grace. That could be argued was a problem... Many said that the unicorn was the true head of the duo... myself included.

Plus dungeons are inherently mount un-friendly... along with buildings- which is a pretty good balancing factor as well IMO.

 

[the_mighty_agrippa]

Definitely not overbalancing.

Now, I've seen some strange things happen to paladin mounts, like when the PCs (myself included) convinced the paladin that his god would say it was ok to eat his dead warhose. Poor guy.

 

[Stalker0]

I've seen some paladins with the various mount feats (dragon mounts, celestial mounts) get some very powerful rides. But the regular mount is just fine.

 

[brehobit]

At low level (5th) in a low power game (28 points or less, low magic) a paladin's horse is scary good. If the paladin will have the horse in most fights, the paladin will be the most powerful warrior in the party (given low power/low magic).

In our game the horse did more damage than any PC other than the arcane caster against groups.

Mark

 

[Nightfall]

I don't like it but not for the "balance" aspect. It's just some times (actually most of the time), I don't need a mount in combat. These days charging does all the work for me!

 

[Bad Paper]

Special Mount is like Animal Companion. In the campaign that I run, the druid was running rampant over everything with her friggin pets. It got to the point that the rest of the party was standing around useless. Suddenly that is no longer happening; her dire bear has become a nuisance, spell drain, and otherwise a complete liability. The best thing it can do is occupy space on the battlefield.

I think it's a weird function of setting, party mix, baddie mix, etc. Sometimes these class features look like they're breaking the game, and other times they just get in the way. Overall, you have to watch the power shift over the course of the campaign before jumping to any rash (house-rule) conclusions. I've run this group from level 1 to currently 15, and ... yeah, I have barely touched my house-rule stick, just because I want to see how things turn out.

I have, however, begun a list of house-rules for the next campaign, muhahaha

 

[Nightfall]

Eh it could be worse...it could be an awakened dire bear druid that decides to get their own animal companions!

 

[Dog Moon]

Eh it could be worse...it could be an awakened dire bear druid that decides to get their own animal companions!

Except that you no longer get to control it unless you take Leadership because the act of Awakening it prevents it from being your companion. Of course then you could get a normal bear companion and annoy your DM by controlling two Druids, both with animal companions.